Human Ecology and Evolution Research Paper

Human Evolution and Ecology

Meadowcroft Rockshelter is an excavated archaeological site for human remains located near the Avella in the Washington County at Jefferson Township in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania in the United States. The site is a rock shelter that is overlooking the bluff Cross Greek of the Ohio River. Typically, the site is located 27 miles of the west-southwest of Pittsburg within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The site was created by the Monongahela Culture in 1570, which was operated within the Heinz History Center. Moreover, the artifacts of the site reveal that the site may be inhabited for over 19,000 years ago, which was since the times of Paleo-Indian.

Objective of this paper is to apply the scientific method to investigate the impact of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity of the paleontological data of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter excavated archaeological site in the United States. The paper also evaluates the findings from the linguistic, genetic and paleontological point-of-view to explore the changes within the geographical distribution innovation (tool use), gene expression, language and culture (architecture, art) within and across human societies.

Impact of Human on Meadowcroft Rockshelter excavation archaeological site

The human occupancy at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter excavated site dated back to 16,000 and 19,000 years ago. However, there is still a controversy on the exact date based on the recent survey conducted by the Society for American Archaeology where 38% of the American archaeologists support the early date and 20% reject the date. However, if the early date is authentic, the site will be the oldest archaeological site in the North America. (The appendix 1 reveals the photo of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter site). (Adovasio, Donahue, Stuckenrath, 1998, James, & Jake, 2003).

Selker, (2010) believes that the site should be about 16,000 years old. The archaeological team who conducts a research on the site found an array of artifacts that include whole tools, projectile points, stone tool fragments, wooden instruments and pottery fragments."To figure out exactly how old these artifacts actually were, the archeological team conducted radiocarbon dating testing on them. To everyone's surprise, the tests revealed that some of the artifacts dated back 16,000 years." (Selker, 2010 p 10). (The appendix 2 reveals the layers found the amazing artifacts).

Essentially, the Meadowcroft archaeological site was the first site that contains the evidence of pre-Clovis populations. The sophisticated tools found in the site reveal the evidence that the early occupants were hunters and gatherers. Selker, (2010) argues that the ancient tribe of the site use the flint spearheads for hunting, and generally hunts large game such as elk, deer and other large animals. When they did not succeed catching large games, they search for variety of smaller protein sources that include birds, fish, as well as mollusks from the water source.

One of the impacts of human activities on the Meadowcroft Rockshelter is attributed to the extinction of megafauna. Moreover, the site provided the earliest collection of fauna, and flora materials ever been recovered in the North America. Based on the 149 remain animals excavated from the site, there are evidence that human at the site also hunt for smaller animals and engage in agricultural activities and produce food such as corn, fruits, seeds, nuts and squash. Moreover, the site produced the Pre-Clovis remains found at 11.5 feet beneath the ground. Additionally, the site also yields many tools that include pottery, lamellar blades, bifacial fragments, chipping debris and lanceolate projectile point. Goodyear, (2007) argues that Meadowcroft reveals the longest standing for the archeological pre-Clovis evidence. Essentially, the debitage, and stone tools consists of highly collection of tool kit in the site.

Several hypotheses have been proposed to on the genetic and linguistic evidence of the earlier settlers at the Meadowcroft….....